I have recently cleared a hill in my yard. It's too steep for a lawn mower so I want to plant a ground cover. Does anyone have any suggesstions for a nice ground cover? I live in the mid-atlantic and the hill is fairly sunny. The hill is about 20' down and 60' across. Maybe more than one ground cover?
Thanks, Jamie
You can't go wrong with Sedum and Sempervivum.
What was there prior to your clearing it?
I like Vinca...mine has pretty purplish blue flowers on it, and it seems to spread pretty quickly.
Angie in the boonies of East Texas
in one word: SPEARMINT!! smells great, nice low growing, spreads like crazy...and just think: on the 1st saturday in may, yule be able to make mint juleps for the whole neighbourhood!!!!
For a short groundcover that almost never needs watering & loves full sun, sunroses form lovely carpets dense enough that weeds can't get through. Various cultivars come in every cool color except blue, & even when not flowering they provide a varied texture because the leaves are varied from cultivar to cultivar, from grey-blue to shiny green. For a taller groundcover, rockroses have much the same value, but not in as wide an array of colors. If you did create a "sea" of short sunroses, its short height could be broken up at intervals by Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) that come in many colors (the blue one would add the one missing color to the sunrose array) or an upright species rugosa rose.
-paghat the ratgirl
Apart from the possibility of becoming invasive & the impossibility of getting it to stay just where it was planted, it dies back in autumn & looks like hell so makes for a poor choice of dominant groundcover. I did see a garden in which mints & golden creeping jenny were used to good effect as the dominant groundcovers; when they were in full take-over-the-world mode they looked spiffy, but come winter the whole area blackened then looked empty.
-paghat the ratgirl
It was covered with multiflora rose...I hate that stuff. It took me two years to get rid of it. The first year I chopped it down with a machette. The second year, after it all died, I cut it up with a lawn mower and raked it out. I hope I never have to do it again!
do you think that the sunroses would work on a VERY steep hill? like the cliff i have in my front yard facing the lake?
Hi Jamie,
I like Cereus-validus's suggestion of Sempervirens and Sedums. Als consider a creeping euonymous, but they are best used in a containe area. There are many different varieties.
You can check the references of mailorder sites here.
-- Newt
I've never personally seen sunroses growing on a sheer cliff, but in their native range wild ones are known to establish themselves even on limestone cliffs which are pretty harsh places to grow, so I would assume if there's any soil at all to get started on, the fancier cultivars would do fine. And if it's not quite a cliff but really only a steep-steep slope, that's the sort spot they particular like, full sun with sharply draining soil.
-paghat the ratgirl
If you choose vinca, use only V. minor. V. major can be very invasive.
Two low-growing ground covers are pink clover (knotweed, Persicaria capitata, hardy to about 18F) and cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana, hardy to 0F). They spread in solid mats of foliage
1-3 inches thick and have nice small flowers. You can then plant shrubs, bulbs, or tall perennials through them.
Vinca minor here in the PNW is *very* *aggressive*.
Jamie, you might want to check out which plants are considere invasives in your area. What may be a great garden plant in one are of the country may be an invasive in your area. Go to
You can also get information on any recommendations at google. Best t use botanical names or check out common names as several plants can hav the same common name. An example is the recommendation of pink clover. Botancially, pink clover - Trifolium repens is NOT knotweed - Persicari capitata.
-- Newt
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